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3 Lyrics About War From the 60s That Still Tug at Our Heartstrings
Three 1960s songs use lyrics about war to express fears and doubts that remain relevant: Donovan’s “The War Drags On”, Phil Ochs’s “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” and Barry McGuire’s version of “Eve of Destruction”. Together, they address the human cost of conflict, the role of political leaders and the threat of wider destruction.
Donovan’s song follows a soldier named Dan in Vietnam and imagines a world destroyed by war. Ochs’s song looks back at American conflicts and has the singer refuse to march, while “Eve of Destruction”, written by P.F. Sloan, links the Vietnam and Cold Wars with civil rights and Middle East tensions. McGuire described it as reporting what was happening rather than serving as a protest anthem.
In short
- Donovan’s song follows a soldier haunted by Vietnam.
- Phil Ochs questions who leads the United States into war.
- “Eve of Destruction” connects war fears with wider political tensions.